Page:American Historical Review, Volume 12.djvu/688

 678 Reviews of Books leaders at Washington. Of Trescot he says, " That he should have been able to adjust his action to any known code of honor is one of the amazing characteristics of the situation" (p. 152). After the description of certain activities of Trescot, Floyd, and Thomp- son he says, "We have here a full conspiracy" (p. 158). Again, he contends that the meeting of the Southern senators on January 5, 1861, constituted a genuine conspiracy (pp. 242-245). He insists upon the point partly because he will not go so far as Mr. Rhodes in acknowledging that the extraordinary occasion excused vmusual conduct (p. 242), and partly because he rates higher the influence of such leaders in determining the attitude of the South : " For throughout the South the movement at first was, in the main, one of the politicians and not of the people" (p. 149). "That the movement soon became a popular one is certain, but the extent of the domination of the poli- ticians and the wide-spread ignorance of the people, the ease with which the feelings of an ignorant and impressionable population can be played upon, the willingness of men to have arms put into their hands to resent an injury or a supposed injury, the ennui of southern life, which caused a craving for excitement of any sort, can easily account for the readiness of the southern population, the step of secession once taken, to enroll itself in the military service of their states" (p. 150). The treatment of the John Brown raid is chiefly noticeable be- cause of the slight effect attributed to it. The campaign of i860, the action of Congress, the secession of the Southern states, are rapidly surveyed; the development of Northern sentiment is neglected, per- haps left for the succeeding volume, but the attitude of Lincoln is sympathetically discussed. Errors are few. The statement as to the value of the hay crop in the map facing page 8, which is correct, does not agree with that of page 28 ; nor is proper allowance made for the fact that the hay crop was rather a burden than an asset to the N»rth. On page 30 it is not quite clear how the figures have been obtained, but at any rate they are not consistent with each other; probably $13,000,000 should be $23,000,000. On page 100 it is evident that the author misunderstands the significance of the political term " non-in- terference." The coloring of the map opposite page 152 is incorrect in some particulars. "A majority of 10 in a total of 99" is impossible (p. 146). "Says", on page 231, should be "say". The general equipment of the volume is like that of the others of this series. There are six maps, illustrating well-chosen points, and well constructed except the fifth, which deals with the election of i860, a subject, perhaps, too complicated for graphic representation. The bibliography is well done, but is, perhaps, not so serviceable as a guide to the student as in some of tlie otlier volumes. The style is good; and though it occasionally runs into such barbarisms as "re- ligiosity ", it preserves on the whole an academic dignity and is clear, vigorous, and effective. C.^RL Russell Fish.